Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan has moved the Supreme Court against the rejection of her Rajya Sabha nomination.

The polling for the seat is slated for June 18.

Natarajan's candidature was rejected by returning officer and Madhya Pradesh assembly principal secretary Arvind Sharma on June 9.

This was after objections were raised by BJP leaders including Rajya Sabha candidate Mahesh Kewat and party state general secretary Rahul Kothari. The BJP alleged that Natarajan, in her election affidavit, had failed to disclose details of a case pending before a court in Hyderabad.

According to the returning officer's order, Natarajan had responded to a notice issued by a Hyderabad court in October 2025 but did not mention the matter in Form 26 submitted with her nomination papers. The returning officer held that the affidavit was incomplete and rejected her candidature on that basis.

Congress leaders have maintained that the rejection is legally unsustainable, arguing that no criminal case exists against Natarajan since no court has yet taken cognisance of the private complaint filed against her, and that a pre-cognisance notice does not constitute a pending criminal case requiring mandatory disclosure.

On the other hand, BJP argued before the returning officer that Supreme Court guidelines on mandatory disclosure require all candidates to declare pending criminal cases in their nomination affidavits and that Natarajan's non-disclosure violated those guidelines.

The rejection effectively eliminates Congress from the contest for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh up for polling on June 18. Natarajan, a former Lok Sabha MP from Mandsaur, currently serves as AICC in-charge of Telangana.